Bettie's Books

bookshelves: one-penny-wonder, italy, paper-read, winter-20112012, published-1979, books-about-books-and-book-shops, amusing, little-green-men, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, shortstory-shortstories-novellas, incest-agameforallthefamily

** spoiler alert ** Translated from the Italian by William Weaver. Translator note: In chapter eight the passage from 'Crime and Punishment' is quoted in the beloved translation of Constance Garnett.

Dedication: for Danielle Ponchiroli

Opening: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller'. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade.

p 26 - aleatory: adj. Dependent on chance, luck, or an uncertain outcome

p 58 - afflatus: A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration. [Latin affl tus , from past participle of affl re, to breathe on



Not being clever enough to make this review a parody, I'll use the tellingithowitwasforbettie stamp.

Don't know what I expected, however this initial encounter with Calvino and that egotistical start where he openly manipulates readers, wanted me to give him a right ol' penguin slap.

Then all of a sudden I was all about loving it AND laughing out loud and thinking what a clever ol' pretentious bastard he was. At 200 pages this should have been over within a few hours, nevertheless this is not a quick read; some passages have to be read two,three times for their beauty, or their fun, or their outrageous confusion.

The end turns to dust (pulviscular material) and a marriage: all I need to know now is did YOU read the same book that I did or was it, perchance, a fake!?

Can fully see why some detest this book/ can't get past the first 30+ pages, however I heartily endorse the whole with a dobbing big tick and place it on the to re-read shelf.

My mind's eye gives me this as an approximation of the Railway Buffet, if one can imagine yellowy fog on the outside

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"It was all very well for me to pull up the mouth of the plastic bag: it barely reached Jojo's neck, and his head stuck out."

The first sensation this book should convey is what I feel when I hear the telephone ring..."

Speculate, reflect: every thinking activity implies mirrors for me."

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